Finding the phrase to every thought…

Posts tagged “Short story”

Those cooking magazines stacked on a shelf. I hold on to so little from my past that is tangible, but these long, glossy journals contain dreams and memories about which I cannot speak. I never look through them, and yet I take comfort in the pretty swirl of logo on their spines. They tell of a land where I once made Spicy Pumpkin, Peanut and Spring Onion Fritters, Harissa Lamb Mince, Black Cherry Cake with Ricotta Cream, savored wines from Gimblett Gravels and Central Otago, and pressed flat the corners of color-drenched articles about Waiheke Island, Hawke’s Bay, Akaroa, planning future explorations of our new home: New Zealand. ~ A photograph of three men on a bridge in southwest Ireland. Their waterproof jackets in primary red, blue, and green are playful beacons…

Two years ago, I wrote a story based on someone who slipped in and out of my life in a matter of weeks, set in a place where my heart swelled, then shattered. The short story was published earlier this year and I was so pleased. But it’s an unfinished work. It is the foundation of an idea I’d considered developing into a novel, before I settled upon the tale I’m writing now. The characters knock around in my head, waiting. When the time is right I know they’ll still be there, ready to tell me what’s been happening since we last met. Round about the same time my short story found its way to print, a slim and elegiac novel landed on bookshelves.…

As I grind through The Novel, with thousands of words behind me and just a few thousand more ahead, I am aching to write short fiction again. There is such challenge and satisfaction in crafting a complete story, with fully formed characters facing obstacles and arriving at some sort of resolution, in fewer than 10,000 or 5,000 or 1,000 words. Excuse the running metaphor, but short fiction is a speed workout that leaves you trembling with endorphins, legs wobbly from those fast-twitch muscle fibers that fired you through quarter-mile repeats instead of the measured slog of a long-distance run. The fast-twitch fibers in my brain were reawakened during the workshop I attended yesterday during the Port Townsend Writer’s Conference: Flash nonfiction: Writing Memoir in…

Yesterday I penned typed the final words of the final project of the writing program in which I’ve been engaged since late autumn 2010. From her studio in Salem, OR my writing mentor has assigned a dozen projects designed to build writing chops in someone who wrote her last piece of fiction when she was twelve. In eighteen months I have written, edited and revised thousands of words. A few thousand of those became six short stories, three of which I have submitted for publication. Two were published and one was short-listed for a national literary award. I need – must – do the slog work of getting the others off my hard drive and into an editor’s in-box. Many editors’ in-boxes. Rejection is…

I’m currently enrolled in an essay writing course taught by writer and journalist Amy Paturel. Our first assignment was to craft a profile of ourself as a writer. How’s that for a stretch of the imagination? Profile of a Writer-in-Progress I ran my tenth half-marathon three weeks ago. I completed my first long-distance race in November 2003 and I have run at least one half-marathon every year since. So yes, I run. But I stumble when calling myself a runner. Runners are sleek, long-legged creatures who speak of fartleks, negative splits, performance shoes, PR’s. Runners are “A” personality types who train to qualify for Boston, layout their gear the night before, and eat meals calibrated to maximize protein and carbohydrate loads. Me? I’ve got ten…

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King My rating: 4 of 5 stars 96.9 percent loved this. I may even knock it up to “It was amazing” as its treasure trove of advice sinks in. Here’s the thing: Stephen King knows how to tell a story. From the early to late 80s- junior high through mid-university- I read nearly everything he’d written. His novels are the only of the horror-genre that I’ve read; it’s never been my cup of tea, either in print or film, but King’s writing is a cut above. He is the literary equivalent of Bruce Springsteen. I don’t own a Springsteen album, but when I hear one of his songs, from any era, I know I am…

A pair of Irishmen made up my reads this past week… just in time for St. Pat’s. Sláinte, gentlemen. I’ll toast you with a draught Guinness tonight at Kell’s. Long may your stories endure. The Dead by James Joyce My rating: 5 of 5 stars Volumes of literary analysis proclaim The Dead as the perfect short story. The instructor of a short-story writing workshop I recently attended made the same assertion. He admonished our gathering to read The Dead as soon as possible and to reread it at least once a year, as an example of writing at its most sublime. Hyperbole? I don’t know that it matters. It moved me to tears. I knew nothing of the story, nor have I read Joyce…